LG OLED55C6P vs Samsung UN55KS9500 Review : Which is superior?

LG OLED55C6P is part of LG’s 2016 OLED TV Series C and the only model that comes with curved panel while Samsung UN55KS9500 is part of KS9000 series, the second top model of Samsung’s 2016 SUHD TV lineup. The similarity between them, they equally come with curved panel. In the market, both of them are sold at price about $2000 where OLED55C6P is sold with similar price UN55KS9500. But of course, their price is not fixed and could still change at any time. So, what features which offered by each and which is a better choice between them?

Short Review about Samsung UN55KS9500

As mentioned, Samsung UN55KS9000 is part of KS9500 series, the curved model of Samsung Series 9. The excepting of it comes with curved panel, what offered by it is virtually identical to its brother UN55KS9000. Meanwhile, compared to the flagship KS9800 series, it is lack of Multi Zones Full array LED backlighting technology. As premium model of Samsung’s 2016 lineup, stunning picture quality and great HDR performance is the highlights. This is confirmed by obtaining Ultra HD Premium Certification set by UHD Alliance. Meanwhile, it is not equipped with 3D technology which will surely disappoint for you who care about 3D entertainment.

Samsung UN55KS9000 is a serious HDR TV for premium 4K entertainment. For a LED TV, back level and contrast produced is very deep and strong. Otherwise, With Peak Illuminator behind it, UN55KS9500 is including the brightest TVs in 2016. In other hand, color gamut delivered is also wide thanks to quantum dot technology behind it. With great display specs that offered, this makes quality of the picture that displayed on its screen looks stunningly, no matter when it is displaying SDR or HDR contents. Talking about HDR, it just supports HDR 10 only. However, it is certified by Ultra HD Premium certification that guarantees great HDR performance that produced. In addition to stunning picture quality, Samsung UN55KS9500 also offers great performance on most of features. Motion Handling and 24p playback is great. As well as about UHD Up-scaling engine, it is also a good performer. For gamers, it also has low input lags so is great all kind of games. For completing your 4K entertainment, UN55KS9500 comes with attractive Smart TV called Tizen OS. The only big downside of Samsung UN55KS9500 as the premium mode is about viewing angle where it is very poor.

Short Review about LG OLED55C6P

As mentioned, LG OLED55C6P is part of C6P series, the only model of LG’s 2016 OLED TV that comes with curved panel. As an OLED TV, stunning picture quality with perfect black level and infinite contrast is that flagship of OLED55C6P.Additionaly, it is also come with passive 3D technology that will add your convenience when watching 4K Entertainment in your home. The only downside as an OLED TVS is about their price that is not cheap. But of course, it is in accordance to the performance that offered.

Like UN55KS9000, LG OLED55C6P is also compliant with Ultra HD Premium Certification that means it can display HDR 10 format fully as what intended by UHD Alliance. Of course, all display specs that produced are also met the minimum standardization of HDR 10 set by UHD Alliance. In addition to perfect black level and infinite contrast, it also delivers wide color gamut that makes the picture produced looks natural with richer color. Even not only that, it also supports Dolby Vision, the other most popular HDR format. The other benefit, its viewing angle coverage is very wide, much wider than IPS TV or even can be said perfect. This allows viewers get best viewing even when watching from extremely side viewing angle. In addition to picture superb picture quality, OLED55C6P also offers perfects performance at some features. Motion handling is perfect that means there is o motion blur when it used for watching fast moving images. Additionally, it is also a good performer when displaying 24 movies. And that is not lest interesting is excellent WebOS 3.0 as their smart TV platform. With a lot of features with great performance that offered, it is very difficult to find the major downside of LG OLED55C6P.

Samsung UN55KS9500 vs LG OLED55C6P Performance

Picture Quality

Picture quality is the flagship of both. This is due their deep black level and strong native contrast ratio produced by them. As we know, black level and contrast is one of the most important aspects of picture quality. LG OLED55C6P with self lighting pixel can reach perfect black or near 0 nits of black level with infinite native contrast ratio while Samsung UN55KS9500 reach about 0.015 nits of black level with about 6700:1 of contrast ratio. This means OLED55C6P offers much deeper black level than UN55KS9500 that course will make the picture produced also looks better especially when displaying dark scenes. The detail of images in dark scenes will be revealed more on the screenOLED55C6P than UN55KS95000. But even so, for LED TV, what reached byUN55KS9500 is very deep even there are not many LED TVS that can match it. This means, although not as good as what produced by OLED55C6P due its contrast is not as strong as, the picture that displayed on the screen of UN55KS9500 still looks stunningly. In other hand, for displaying HDR 10 contents fully, UHD alliance set 0.05 nits or lower for LED TV and 0.0005 nits of black level for OLED TVs. With lower black level than minimum standardization, can be ascertained, both of them can display HDR 10 fully without any issue on black level.

Otherwise, in term of peak brightness, Samsung UN55KS9500 is superior to OLED55C6P. With the number of Samsung most advanced technologies behind it, UN55KS9500 can reach about 1500 nits of peak brightness on 2% windows while on 50% and 100% windows, peak brightness reached by UN55KS9500 is still bright that is about 530 nits. Meanwhile, LG OLED55C6P reach about 650 nits of peak brightness on 2% window and this will dim on bigger % window till 220 nits on 50% window and 125 nits on 100% window. Although peak brightness reached by OLED55C6P is not as bright as what reached by UN55KS9500 but this is quite bright to make the picture looks consistently in a bright room. In other hand, like on black level, UHD Alliance also set 2 standardizations for HDR 10 about peak brightness, 550 nits for OLED TV and 1000 nits for LED TV. This means peak brightness reached by them is brighter than minimum standardization of peak brightness for displaying HDR 10 fully.

Moving on color performance, both Samsung UN55KS9500 and LG OLED55C6P also already support wide color gamut. UN55KS9500 with quantum dot panel behind it can cover about 95% of DCI P3 color space while OLED55C6P can cover about 96% of DCI P3 color space. Meanwhile, minimum color gamut that required for displaying HDR 10 contents fully is about 90% of DCI P3 color space. This means what delivered by then is quite enough to display HDR 10 contents without any issue on color reproduction. Color of the picture that displayed on their screen is very rich and accurate, no matter they are displaying HDR or SDR contents. Still about color reproduction, both of them also already support 10 depth of color that means they can deliver about 1.07 billion of shades of color. The result, color gradient of the picture that displayed on each of their screen looks equally very smooth without color banding or color shade issue. Meanwhile, for displaying HDR 10 fully, a HDR TV also must support 10 bit depth of color.

From all display specs which delivered by them, we can conclude OLED55CP is superior on contrast and black level while UN55KS9500 is superior on peak brightness. But as mentioned, because black level and contrast is the most important components of picture quality, this makes quality of the picture displayed on the screen of OLED55C6P looks more amazing than UN55KS9500. Moreover for displaying SDR contents that doesn’t require dynamic range as high as when displaying HDR contents. That’s why OLED55C6P offer better picture quality than UN55KS9500 when displaying SDR contents. Meanwhile, with brighter peak whites, UN55KS9500 offers brighter picture and higher dynamic range that makes quality of the picture displayed on its screen looks more consistent in a bright room with a lot of windows.

But as we know, HDR is not just HDR 10 only as an open source HDR format. There is also Dolby’s proprietary HDR format named Dolby Vision that set higher standardization than HDR 10. For this case, LG OLED55C6P supports Dolby Vision while Samsung UN55KS9500 doesn’t. But because for this time there is no TV that has display specs that meet the minimum standardization of Dolby Vision like 10.000 nits of peak brightness with current target 4000 nits or Rec.2020 color space with 12 bit depth of color, of course OLED55C6P is not able to display Dolby Vision contents fully like what intended by the creators. But even so, with great display specs offered by it, Dolby Vision contents that displayed on the screen of OLED55C6P still looks stunningly.

Viewing Angle

As we know, the use of backlight behind the TV panel make quality of the picture look degraded if viewers watch TV from side viewing angle. Because LG OLED55C6P has self lighting pixel, there is no backlight behind its panel. This allows OLED55C6P offers perfect viewing angle, even much wider than what offered by IPS panel. Wherever you are watching TV from, you will get the best viewing on the screen of OLED55C6P.Meanwhile, although Samsung UN55KS9500 comes with curved panel that claimed can improve side viewing angle, nonetheless its viewing angle is poor. On the screen of UN55KS9500, the contrast and color will looks to deteriorate started at 20 degrees off center and front. The right setting between seat and TV is highly required if you don’t want the quality of the picture that produced is degraded.

Winner: LG OLED55C6P

UHD Up-scaling

Both Samsung UN55KS9500 and LG OLED55C6P do a good job when up-scaling lower resolution contents to near 4K quality. This is very useful considering most of the contents that available in the market still have lower resolution than 4K. The result is really good, no matter the resolution of your video resolution. When the source is 480p like DVDs, the final image resulted really looks good and not soft at all in 4K quality, even the straight-line in the images doesn’t look choppy at all on each of their screen. Meanwhile, when the source is 720p contents like Cable TV or other HD media, the 4K images produced looks very clear with details of images are maintained well. And of course, when the source is 1080p like Blu-Ray contents, the final images produced looks clearer and sharper on their screen without any loss small details.

Winner: Tier

Motion Handling and 24p Playback

Both of Samsung UN55KS9500 and LG OLED55C6P are also do a great job in minimizing motion blur when they are displaying fast moving images like sports program or fast moving. But even so, compared between them, OLED55C6P offers much faster pixel response time than UN55KS9500. The result, there is no trail following fast moving object on the screen of OLED55C6P while on the screen of UN55KS9500, a faint trail following fast moving objects is still slightly visible. But even so, although a bit of motion blur is still noticeable on the screen of UN55KS9500 but they are not very distracting and still better than the performance of most LED TVs that available in the market. In other hand, when playing 24p movies, Samsung UN55KS9500 offers slightly better performance than LG OLED55C6P especially when playing 24p movies via 60p signals like movies from streaming media. This means, judder cannot be removed on the screen of OLED55C6P while with certain setting, judder can be removed on the screen of UN55KS9500 without adding soap opera effect. Meanwhile, when playing 24 p movies like from Blu-Ray or 24p via 60i signals like movies from satellite TV, both of them equally offers perfect performance.

Winner: LG OLED55C6P

3D Technology

In term of 3D technology, their difference is very clear where LG OLED55C6P comes with passive 3D technology while Samsung UN55KS9500 is not equipped with 3D technology. But talking about 3D performance that offered, OLED55C6P offers great 3D performance. Comes with passive 3D technology it offers clear and smooth 3D images without distracting flicker and crosstalk. Additionally, the deep of 3D images is also very noticeable on their cheap and comfortable to use passive 3D glasses. But unfortunately, each of eyes only can receive in half the number of lines of horizontal resolution as the native characteristic of passive 3D technology.

Winner: LG OLED55C6P

Connectivity

Samsung One Connect Box

Samsung UN55KS9500 is equipped with 4 HDMI Ports and 3 USB Ports as the major connectivity while LG OED55C6P is equipped with 3 HDI Ports and 2 USB Ports. Additionally, there is Component In and Composite In behind OLED55C6P while UN55KS9500 is not equipped by these inputs. The difference, all inputs /outputs ports of OLED55C6P is installed on rear and backside of the panel while all HDMI Ports, 2 USB Ports and RF In of UN55KS9500 is installed on separated box called “One Connect Box”. Talking about input lag, Samsung UN55KS9500 has lower input lags than OLED55C6P at all input signals, whether it is 1080p, 4K, or 4K with HDR signals. This means, UN55KS9500 is better for games especially for games that require fast reflexes.

Winner: Samsung UN55KS9500

Sound Quality

Sound quality both of them is above average. As we see on comparison table above, Samsung UN55KS9500 is equipped with 4.2 channel speaker system with total 60 watts audio power while LG OLED%5C6P is equipped with 4.0 channel speaker system with 40 watts total audio power. With built in woofer, of course UN55KS9500 offers better bass performance than OLED55C6P. Additionally, frequency response of UN55KS9500 is also better than OLED55C6P.This indicates sound quality of UN55KS9500 is better than OLED55C6P. But even so, for you who care about sound quality, what offered by them is not quite enough. So, the addition of external sound bar is still required to get more impressive sound quality.

Winner: Samsung UN55KS9500

Smart TV

Tizen OS

Both of them equally feature excellent smart TV platform. Samsung UN55KS9500 comes with Tizen OS while LG OLED55C6P comes with WebOS 3.0. Both of these OS equally have attractive and intuitive user interface, but in navigating, WebOS is more simple and easy to use than Tizen. While about performance, both of them also equally offer fast and responsive performance where the loading time of an app is very quick and selecting between apps felt responsively. Taking about apps, both of them also provides complete and varied apps. There are VoD Service like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Videos, HuluPLus, and more Web browser, Screen Mirroring, Cloud Games apps, Content and Apps Store, and many more. Essentially, both of them are the best and second best Smart TV platform in 2016.

Samsung Smart Controller

LG Magic Remote

As the controller UN55KS9500 is equipped with “Samsung Smart Controller” while OLED55C6P is equipped with “LG Magic Remote. For this case, Samsung remote is simpler with less buttons than LG remote, even there is no “number buttons” on Samsung remote. Both of them also equally equipped with voice commands and universal remote functionality. The advantage of LG remote, there is point and click functionality that can serve like a mouse on Notebook. Meanwhile on Samsung Remote, this functionality has been removed.

Summary

Conclusion

As we have discussed a lot above, LG OLED55C6P and Samsung UN55KS9500 are a serious HDR TV that offers premium picture quality. They come with Ultra HD Premium Certification that ensures heir great HDR performance. Separated from their differences in performance, the picture that displayed on each of their screen looks really amazing. Additionally, almost of all features which offered by each have great performance. Not only that, both of them also equally feature attractive and responsive smart TV platform.

So, which is a better choice between them? With the great performance that offered by each, LG OLED55C6P and Samsung UN55KS9500 are sold with similar price. The major advantages, it offers better picture quality with perfect black level and infinite contrast, perfect viewing angle, and 3D technology. Meanwhile, this doesn’t mean UN55KS9500 doesn’t have advantages than OLED55C6P. The major advantages, it offers brighter picture with much brighter peak brightness and lower input lag. Now the decision comes back to you according to your preferences. I have discussed a lot above them and you just choose which one is appropriate with your preferences. And finally, before you decide to choose one of the, there are a lot of opinions about each from each of their real customers where you can make as your further consideration.

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